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Investors turn up the heat on diversity in alternative investment sector

Investors turn up the heat on diversity...

Institutional investors in the Alternative Investments industry are demanding diversity disclosures in ever greater numbers according to KPMG’s sixth 'Women in Alternative Investments report: The Call to Act'

Over the next year, 75 percent of the investors surveyed said they plan to ask investment teams to report their diversity efforts, up from 60 percent last year.

More than one third (37 percent) of the investors surveyed said they will require disclosure of diversity statistics for all potential investments, up from just 16 percent last year.

42 percent of investors said they will require the firms in their portfolios to improve diversity, up from just 11 percent last year.

“We are at a critical time, whilst there’s a long way to go this report shows some cause for optimism as even in the highly male-dominated Alternative Investments industry we’re starting to see progress on diversity. Not only are firms pushing for change, but investors are too, and that will start to really drive action.” said Tom Brown, Global Head of Asset Management, KPMG.

However, whilst the majority of women and men (84 and 76 percent respectively) agree that achieving gender diversity is a business imperative, women are less optimistic than their male colleagues in believing enough is being done. Twenty percent more men than women think enough is being done to tackle the lack of gender diversity in the sector. Further, 65% of men think their company’s leadership takes the issue seriously enough, whilst just half of women have the same belief.

Sarah Hayes, Real Estate Partner, KPMG UK, comments: “The gap between male and female perceptions reflected in these results is worrying. We are a very long way from achieving anything that looks like equality and so urgently need to bring men and women together to challenge the current environment and deliver a truly diverse workforce. The fact that over half of male respondents think enough is already being done is a concerning and questionable starting point. Diversity is no longer limited to measures such as gender or ethnicity - diversity of thought - is now essential and is potentially even more challenging to define, address and measure. However, as investors increasingly put the sector under the microscope, few will be able to hide from the facts for long.”

Tom Brown adds: “It seems that a lot of men in the Alternatives sector are looking through rose-tinted glasses and choosing to believe that enough is already being done to tackle gender disparity. Women are far less optimistic, as are the numbers. Making diversity part of a firm’s culture, and backing that with measurable targets, will be key to bridging the gap between male and female sentiment.”

KPMG LLP, a UK limited liability partnership, operates from 22 offices across the UK with approximately 16,300 partners and staff. The UK firm recorded a revenue of £2.338 billion in the year ended 30 September 2018. KPMG is a global network of professional firms providing Audit, Tax, and Advisory services. It operates in 154 countries and has 200,000 professionals working in member firms around the world. The independent member firms of the KPMG network are affiliated with KPMG International Cooperative ("KPMG International"), a Swiss entity. Each KPMG firm is a legally distinct and separate entity and describes itself as such.

KPMG International Cooperative (“KPMG International”) is a Swiss entity. Member firms of the KPMG network of independent firms are affiliated with KPMG International. KPMG International provides no client services. No member firm has any authority to obligate or bind KPMG International or any other member firm vis-à-vis third parties, nor does KPMG International have any such authority to obligate or bind any member firm.